Team Sky: Mystery Dungeon Explorers
by CrystalRei
Summary: A human is thrown into the pokemon world. Now with her new partner she has to finish her mission; provided she can remember what it is. A novelization of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky.
1. Prologue: A Storm at Sea

Prologue: A Storm at Sea

She didn't dare open her eyes, relying on what little sense of touch she had left to know that her hands were still around her partner's. Something, she assumed it was wind, lashed at her, cutting into her skin. At least, that's what it felt like. She might have been bleeding. She didn't think she was; not that she could tell.

A particularly strong burst nearly dislocated her shoulder, causing her to cry out; more in surprise than in pain at this point. "Are… are you okay?" she called out over the wind. Her partner's grip tightened slightly, so she took that as a yes. A burst of light… or lightning… shot past her closed eyes. The clawed hands slipped a little, probably leaving scratches. Not that she would know. "No! Don't let go!" They _had_ to get through this together. They needed each other. "Just a little longer…" she whispered. She hoped that's all it was. It wasn't like she had done this before. "Come on! Hang on!"

She felt more than saw something move. Not her, not her partner. Probably wasn't the one who sent them either. Whoever, whatever, it was, she felt that it had no good intentions.

Risking her sight, she cracked open an eye just enough to see a dark shape behind her partner. It raised what she assumed was a hand… or a paw… or whatever, about to attack. She didn't know if her partner noticed it, but it didn't matter.

Using all her strength, she swung her partner close to and behind her, putting herself in the line of fire. She didn't want to see him get hurt. And if nothing else… he would be better equipped to handle their mission. She almost missed her partner's scream as something collided with her head and upper back. The dark shape was apparently whisked off somewhere else and her hands began to slip. "N-n-no… I can't… hold on…" she mouthed more that whispered to him, her voice beginning to fade along with her consciousness.

More flashes. Then everything suddenly went white as she finally let go; and she managed to muster one last scream.

* * *

><p>Who knew how long it had been before she 'woke up'. As far as she knew, she was dead. But something silently told her no. And that same something seemed to be examining her, or… something. Not her? Part of her? A metaphysical part of her? It was hard to describe, and she wasn't exactly thrilled by the concept. She struggled to question the presence, but she couldn't manage to form any words. Instead questions and answers flashed through her mind quick enough that she could barely grasp them. Really <em>stupid<em> questions at that. Why, exactly, would she need to know if she thought she could find buried treasure in her backyard?

But with nothing better to do, she waited, examining the soft, shifting colors of light around her. For all it was supposed to be calming, she assumed, it wasn't working too well. Still, she was dead anyway, right? So why did it matter? The presence indicated 'no' to her again before shoving her somewhere. At least, that's what it felt like. She blacked out again before she could tell if she was moving.

* * *

><p>The next thing she saw was rough waves and storm clouds. Before she even had time to properly notice the abrupt return to chaos she was being dumped headfirst into vicious salt water. Normally she'd have some comment on the presence's placement skills, but at the moment all she could manage was <em>'What… the heck.'<em> as rain continued to lash at her body when it wasn't consumed by the sea. At least she wasn't cut, amazingly. That would've stung like no other.

Lightning flashed overhead, providing her only sense of any sort of direction. She looked up and noticed a foreboding cliff illuminated by the bolts right before she was slammed into it and knocked sideways as she lost consciousness again.

When thoughts finally began to form in her head, all she could tell was that the storm had ended. She might've assumed she had gone deaf, or died again, but she could still hear small waves hitting the rocks. _'Where… where am I?'_

She tried to open her eyes, and was nearly blinded by the light. She was on what she could only assume was a beach somewhere. Unfortunately she could register much more than that as she found herself drifting off again.

Well, her head hurt, so that was something.

She tried desperately to stay awake, but after only a few moments succumbed and lapsed once more into darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

Well, welcome to my take of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky. This is my first post here, so I hope everything came out okay.

I'm hesitant to post unfinished stories up here, because it's highly likely I won't finish any time soon and I hate being one of those people that never finishes the stuff that gets read by a lot of people. And yet, here we are. I believe this and the next chapter can stand alone well enough to be posted even if I don't put up the rest; covering only the beginning of the game. So we'll see what happens.


	2. Chapter 1: The Beach

Chapter 1: The Beach

Sunset colored the sky pink and orange and the clouds a pale shade of yellow. The flames from two large torches cast a similar, although flickering, light over a large tent built so that the top resembled a Wigglytuff.

In stark contrast, a small blue pokemon studied the tent, more specifically the metal fence that blocked off the entrance. Intimidated, he began pacing back and forth, questioning his decision to go through with this. He stopped, and his jaw set. _'No. I refuse to be paralyzed by this any longer!'_ He took a deep breath and stared at the gate. _'This is it. I have to steel my courage today.'_

So he told himself, anyway.

He walked forward a few steps… and proceeded to jump about a foot in the air when a voice came from the grate below him. "Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" A second voice responded. "Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" He looked down, but couldn't see the owner of either voice as the first spoke again. "The footprint is Riolu's! The footprint is Riolu's!"

The riolu in question backed off hurriedly, letting out an exclamation of surprise. He shuddered. _'That was… too shocking…'_ No more voices came from the grate; assuming he had left, apparently. He breathed a sigh of relief, then stared sadly at the entrance to the tent. "…I can't…" _'I can't work up the courage to go in anymore. …I told myself this was the day…'_ He reached up and opened a pouch hanging around his neck and pulled out a good-size chunk of rock. _'I thought bringing my personal treasure would inspire me, but…'_ But it wasn't enough. He tried to find something, anything, that would force him to go through with it, but he eventually gave up and sighed, this time in disappointment. _'I just…'_ He edged closer for a moment before backing away again. _'…can't do it.'_ He turned and ran back down the stairs leading to the tent. _'I'm such a coward.'_

As soon as the riolu disappeared from sight, a blue and purple bat and a purple, floating ball emerged from behind two totem poles that stood in front of the torches. The ball chuckled. "Hey Zubat, did you get a load of that?" Zubat turned to him. "You bet I did, Koffing." he snickered. Koffing peered out towards the stairs. "The little wimp that was pacing around… had something good, right?" Zubat would've stared at him. He was relying on echolocation here, and even _he_ knew that. "Well he had _something_ all right. Sounded like some kind of treasure."

They turned to each other. "Do we go after it?" "We do."

Sand shifted and fell from rocks as several krabby scurried out from their homes on the beachfront. Pockets and ledges up into the cliff face provided a stage for the oncoming show. On some unseen cue, the water-types began to release a multitude of bubbles that drifted lazily into the sky.

The riolu's paws pressed into the sand and he clutched his pouch, red eyes downcast. His head shifted over to the side, watching the waves, and he caught sight of the iridescent spheres. "Oh!" He scrambled over so that the waves were lapping at his feet. The bubbles caught the last dying rays of the sun and helped set the waves alight. The riolu smiled. _'It feels good to be here, like always.'_

He scanned the horizon, eventually fixing his eyes on a cave at the far end of the beach. There was a strange object sitting not far from the entrance. At first he mistook it for a rock, but something seemed… _off_ about it. _'What… is that?_'_'_ The aura sensors on each side of his head twitched. No, there was definitely life there. He crept closer until he could make out a sorry wet ball of fur half-covered in sand.

He sprinted over, already beginning to panic. The aura told him it was still alive, but he wasn't sure how long they had been like this. The furball eventually revealed itself to be an eevee, who appeared to be totally comatose. Not sure what else to do, he shook the small pokemon. "Hey! Are you okay? What happened to you?"

Eventually the girl became dimly aware of a frantic shouting, and someone moving her body, shaking her. _'Ugh…' _Dizzily she attempted to rise to her feet, but lost her balance and collapsed back onto all fours. Funny, she didn't remember her legs being quite this short. She chalked it up to being numb and having a really big headache.

"Oh good, you're awake! You were passed out here, so I was really worried! How'd you end up out here anyway? You look like you just washed up, but I'd be amazed that anyone would be out here during that storm last night." Her new companion breathed a sigh of relief and backed up a step to give her some space. Deciding that it wouldn't be a good idea to try and stand up again, she settled for examining her surrounding and trying not to fall flat on her face, considering how shaky her legs still were. "Yes, it appears I am awake. Absolutely fantastic." She turned to see a blue and black creature standing over her. "Where exactly am I?"

The creature stared at her kind of oddly, and Kai could now identify it as a riolu. Something didn't seem quite right about that, especially since he was quite obviously standing _over_ her. "You're on the beach, south of Treasure Town." "Where's that?" She asked, only somewhat groggily. "And why are you taller than me? And how the heck are you talking to me?" She paused for a moment. "And while I'm busy asking questions, what's your name? I don't want to just keep calling you Riolu."

"Um…" the pokemon looked quite taken aback. "I'm taller than you 'cuz you're on four legs. I'm talking to you 'cuz you were just passed out and I want to make sure you're okay. And… I don't know how it is wherever you're from, but most pokemon it's normal to be called by your species name. Unless you live in a group of them, like I did, 'cuz then it's kind of pointless. I call myself Blade." "No, I mean, _how_ are you talking to me? And I'm not quadrupedal." To prove her point she attempted to stand up again, only to fall over sideways. "I swear, I'm just dizzy." Suddenly she found his red eyes staring into her own. "You don't seem like it." he said. "Although you do have a really weird eye color for an eevee." "I am not an eevee!" she burst out. "I'm a human! I walk on two legs and all that stuff! And I _shouldn't be able to understand you!"_

Blade instantly backed up two steps when the eevee started shouting. He just stared at her, not sure how to respond. It was a wonder her exclamation didn't send him running even further away, but he was too concerned for her mental health to really consider that.

His aura sensors twitched and briefly rose into the air. The girl before him was apparently quite sincere; and terrified, although he didn't need his sixth sense to know that last bit. She stared at him, wide-eyed in shock, looking like she was about to cry. He prayed she didn't. He had no idea what would help if she did. So she really thought she was a human. She seemed coherent enough, and reasonably clear-headed. But she was quite obviously an eevee. "You're… a little odd." _'Yes, way to go, genius.'_ He hated his tactlessness sometimes. "I'd say you're joking and trying to mess with me, but I can tell you really believe that you were human. Um… Can you remember what happened to you? Anything at all?"

The girl found herself trembling. _'He doesn't believe me… of course he doesn't.'_ She felt like she shouldn't care, but for some reason it was _really important_ to her that someone understood her situation. She closed her eyes, trying to remember how she ended up here, or why she was unconscious.

Nothing.

Nothing but her humanity – _former_ humanity – and her name. She looked down at her hands, only to find small brown paws nearly hidden under what was probably a cream-colored ruff. Hard to tell under the sand. She looked behind her and, twitching a muscle she didn't remember being there before, a wet, once-fluffy tail came into view. She dashed over the water, only to recoil from her reflection, briefly catching a glimpse of stormy blue eyes, and return right to her spot. It wasn't that she didn't _like _eevees, it was just that she shouldn't _be _one.

Now she _did_ start crying. "I… don't know. I can't… remember. Why am I here? I'm here for a reason, but why?" The last part came out in a whisper. "What… _happened_ to me?"

Sensing an oncoming mental breakdown, Blade moved forward and did the most comforting thing he could think of that wouldn't make things too awkward. He put one paw on the back of her ruff, which was caked in sand and sea salt. Surely a delusional pokemon would happily stay in their delusions, even if told otherwise. He wasn't an expert, but there was a lot more to this eevee's story than he thought. Said eevee collapsed onto her front paws and began shaking, clearly unable to comprehend whatever was going on. He knelt down. "Do you have a name at least? I don't know if you caught it before, but mine's Blade."

She shuddered a bit and looked up at him. "Kai. I'm pretty sure my name's Kai." She laughed humorlessly and looked away again. "How pathetic is it that I'm not sure about my own name?" "It's not pathetic. You've just been through a lot and, you know what?" Blade managed to smile a bit. "As far as I'm concerned, you're telling the truth. I'm sorry that I doubted you. You don't seem like a bad pokemon." Kai didn't look up again, but at least she seemed to be calming down.

Then out of nowhere something slammed into his back, sending the two of them sliding in the sand. The strap of the pouch he wore snapped and his treasure rolled out onto the beach. "Ow…"

"Well I do beg your pardon."

Both Kai and Blade looked up towards the new voice and found two new pokemon; a koffing and a zubat. Kai already didn't like the look of them. Blade rose to his feet, brushing sand off his arm. "What was that for!" Koffing smirked "Oh, it wasn't obvious?" "We wanted to mess with you. Can't face up to us can you?" Zubat added. Kai watched Blade intently; watched as he shrank under the mocking gazes. It hurt a little, to look at the scene.

Zubat sneered. "That's yours, isn't it?" Blade gasped as he noticed the rock. "That's…" He moved forward to grab it, but the other duo had a different idea. "Sorry, kiddo. We'll be taking that!" Zubat said as he swooped in and snatched the rock that had fallen from the pouch around Blade's neck. The riolu stopped moving and gave them a half-hearted glare. Koffing was downright smug. "Whoa-ho-ho! Not gonna make a move to get it back?" His creepy grin widened. "What's the matter? Too scared?" Kai stared at Blade. _'Oh, come on. Say something. Surely you could show up _these_ pathetic losers.'_ She may have only just met him, but she felt a lot of sympathy for the guy.

Meanwhile Blade finally dropped his gaze, causing Kai to wince at his totally desolate, ashamed expression. _'No…'_

Koffing chuckled. "I didn't expect you to be _this_ much of a wimp. We'll be going now." The two poison types sped into the cave just past where Kai was standing, the latter having apparently been ignored the entire time. Blade stared sadly after them. "What should I do?" Kai just stared at him. "I may be an amnesiac, but I would think that going after them and getting it back would be a good idea." Blade didn't reply, so she pressed on. "That thing means a lot to you doesn't it?" Blade nodded. "That's my personal treasure. It means… everything to me." He began to tear up a little. "I…" he blinked, and his eyes hardened. "You're right, I've got to get it back." He turned towards the cave. "Kai," he looked hesitantly at her. "I know you don't know what's going on. I know you must've already been through a lot. But, I don't know if I can do this on my own. Can… can you help me? Please?"

Kai's blue eyes closed in thought. _'If I help him, it'll be harder for him to stand up for himself. If I don't, he might get really hurt. We don't have much time. They might get away.'_

She matched Blade's look with one of determination. "Let's go."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

I love Kai. So much. Especially when I can write her properly. She and Blade are my actual team on Sky, and it took me a while to come up with a justification for Blade's name, which even then is more of a handwave than anything.

Normally I try to stick with the script as much as possible in my novelizations, and expand on it some; but I don't think that worked out too well here with Blade's thoughts.

I have a few more chapters typed up for this, but I'm not sure they're good enough to post. And then it's harder for this to stand alone. Maybe if someone really likes this I'll put them up; but I'm warning in advance that this may not be written further any time soon.


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